Pocono Raceway founder Mattioli remembered as big-hearted businessman

Family. Auto racing. Community. Joseph "Doc" Mattioli, who died Thursday at age 86 at Lehigh Valley Hospital after a long illness, made it clear to everyone around him that he loved all three.

MIKE KUHNS

Family. Auto racing. Community.

Joseph "Doc" Mattioli, who died Thursday at age 86 at Lehigh Valley Hospital after a long illness, made it clear to everyone around him that he loved all three.

Mattioli developed and built Pocono Raceway in the early 1960s, the 2.5-mile triangle-shaped track that has hosted NASCAR races since 1974.

Mattioli's impact on Monroe County was unprecedented.

Mattioli, and his wife of 63 years, Rose, donated millions of dollars — more than $2 million anonymously — to dozens of local businesses, towns, students and East Stroudsburg University.

Bob Uguccioni, former Pocono Mountains Vacation Bureau chairman, recalled the day the Mattiolis gave Stroudsburg $1 million to restore the downtown area.

"He wanted the downtown to look good," Uguccioni said. "We threw a luncheon for him. Doc came in, and he had a check made out for $1 million.

"He said, 'You give it to (Stroudsburg's lawyer).' I said, 'You don't have to give it all at one time.' It was the first and only time I had a check in my hands for a million dollars."

for Stroudsburg

In a June 2009 interview, Mattioli told the Pocono Record he had special feelings for Stroudsburg. "In the old days, the Penn Stroud Hotel (at the site of Stroudsburg's Pocono Inne Town at Seventh and Main streets) used to have a porch with a swing. My father was a prize fighter who trained in the Poconos, so my mother would sit with me on that swing when we came up to see him."

He traveled with Rose to Sarasota Springs, N.Y., and admired the beautiful main street. He said then, "This is what I'd like to see Stroudsburg have."

So he set up the trust for the beautification project.

As the Mattiolis' success grew at the race track, so did their generosity. "He did a lot of things anonymously that people didn't know about," Uguccioni said.

The track that the Mattiolis purchased in the early 1960s — land that was once a spinach farm — was flourishing. By 1974, Pocono Raceway hosted its first NASCAR race, an event won by Richard Petty.

There were times when Mattioli considered selling the track, though. On the Pocono Raceway website it says, "we were almost bankrupt two or three times but were too dumb to realize it."

NASCAR chairman Bill France Sr. called Mattioli and asked him to come to New York. It would be a meeting that changed Mattioli's life.

During the meeting with France, the NASCAR president wrote on a business card: "On the plains of hesitation lie the bleached bones of millions who when within the grasp of victory sat and waited and waiting died."

Mattioli decided to stay and not sell the track. Shortly after that, the track was awarded a second race. Keeping the track may have been Mattioli's best business decision in the Poconos.

"He leaves not only his family, but also everyone he's ever met with an insatiable desire to take life by the horns. He always lived life on his own terms. He did it his way," his family said in a statement Thursday night.

"He is one of the three people that really had a big influence on my life," said Jack Kalins, president and CEO of Split Rock Lodge. "He taught me how to do things, how to stay on top of stuff, and most of all, perseverance. Hanging in there, working at it."

Mattioli didn't just sit by and watch his track age. He invested in it, about $3 million per year. The track's website says the family "very quietly and slowly, we began to build Pocono Raceway all over again."

"I always deeply admired him. His tenacity, caring of family, community, and he was a really good businessman," said Bill Cramer, whose family was involved in track from the start. His uncle, Spencer Cramer, was president of the track in the 1960s before selling his shares to Mattioli.

"He made sure he left this place better than when he came here."

Pocono Raceway went through several upgrades over the years, building a new garage area and adding more seating in the 1990s. Recently the track invested in a new catch fence, added safer barriers and built a $15 million solar farm.

Mattioli retired in 2011 at age 85, leaving full responsibility to his grandson, Brandon Igdalsky. Still, Rose and Doc were the faces of the track, present at both races last summer.

"I'm just heartbroken," said Nancy Perretta, the wife of the late Frank Perretta, who was publisher of the Pocono Record from 1983-96. "Frank and I met him 29 years ago this May. We've been the closest friends ever since."

Perretta saw first-hand the Mattioli's kindness and giving.

"He never bragged about giving his money away," Perretta said. "He strongly believed that those with money should be generous with their money."

Mattioli was generous with his time too. Perretta said Mattioli and his wife "just took us under their wing and they treated us like family. They took us to the NASCAR banquet in New York for years."

He gave to major corporations and everyday people, too. He gave scholarships to valedictorians and salutatorians of high schools in Monroe County.

"He was a very generous person," said state Rep. Mario Scavello, R-176. "I particularly liked his scholarship program, where he and Dr. Rose personally handed out $10,000 scholarships to the top two students at every school in this county."

In addition to his wife, Rose, Mattioli leaves behind two daughters, Louie and Michele; a son, Joseph Mattioli III, seven grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.

Howard Frank, Michael Sadowski and David Kidwell contributed to this story.